


Ephemeral Flowers

by Lux_Et_Tenebrea



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Animalistic traits/habits, Ardyn is going to do a thing, Could possibly turn to more, Expect Verstael and Iedolas to appear soon, Gen, Kid!Prompto, Mentions of Iedolas and Vertsael, Not human Ardyn, Not quite human Prompto, Other, Papa!Ardyn, Prompto is like on the brink of death from the cold and starvation, Small MT failure Prompto, and Ardyn literally does NOTHING to alieviate any of the cold from the boy till like the end., warning though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-11-23 05:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11396028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lux_Et_Tenebrea/pseuds/Lux_Et_Tenebrea
Summary: Ardyn has been alone for many a millennia. Then along comes a defective little thing.





	1. A small Shadow

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Breathing Underwater (Something Like Freedom)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572024) by [joidianne4eva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva). 



Trudging through the snowy and empty streets of Gralea, Ardyn knew exactly why the empire was going through all these hellish events. Poverty was at an all time high, had been since he stepped foot into the dying  ruins of a once strong nation. The people wallowed in misery, with a fool for an emperor--and at a time, Ardyn might have felt sympathy for the people who suffered. Would have voiced his distaste for such manner of ill-behavior from a royal. But that time was so distant--it was too far, and too brilliant in a time for him to recall. Instead, the scourge inside him shuddered as it woke to the despair round it, a cacophony of laughter ringing within the vast emptiness that was housed by his human flesh. That too, had once been something his old human self would have despaired about. Once he too, begged the Astrals for salvation, and like the cold that settled into the Niflheim continent from the corpse of one of those very "benevolent" Gods, they had turned away from his pleas. He'd measured time in the beginning, by way of how many times he'd gone to the different homes of the Astrals' would be temples. Had begged them in sobs, and in tears. Had bled for them, and starved for them. Had lost his heart for them, and his humanity.

 

 

So here he stood. The exiled Oracle and King of the once Crystal of "Light", though now as he walked on with the festering hatred inside of himself, Ardyn knew the true name of the cursed relic. The Chaos crystal. For the true Light Crystal had been lost--once housed in Tenebrae, but lost to time and magicks that left the still slightly autonomous Kingdom to the mercy of a starving nation. "Chobo--c0cobo?" babbled a soft voice--far too young to be out and about in the slowly pouring snow that kept piling higher. Looking into a tight and dark alley between two tall grey buildings, he spotted the source of the sound. Within the dank, and narrow passage was a little boy, no more than 4 or 5 years of age, in naught but a tattered laboratory gown. His skin was grimy, and his blonde hair was just as filthy, but the boys eyes seemed to glow even in the dark of the ally, a violet colour--artificial and not human at all, but the beast within him stirred slightly--as though smelling the air, and began to tug ever so gently with clawed hands around the thin tendril of the starscourge that resided within the small body in the alley.

 

The boy seemed to have felt the pull, because his eyes immediately turned towards the auburn haired man, looking for all the world, like a tiny little human who had no right to be out in the cold. But he knew better; a defective one. Verstael had no mercy on failures, cold logic and facts won over any humanity the doctor had. Especially now; with his advancement beginning to grow so strong. Still--and this made Ardyn want to laugh at the irony of it all--the man was vain, going so far as to make the Magiktech army he was crafting into models of himself. "Hell-o" the babbled speech was closer to him than he had anticipated, and that alone made the man of no consequences' skin roil and melt away, revealing the black oozing scourge that resided inside of himself, eyes glowing like a dark sun, skin hissing as he stared down at the failed creation. The child looked up at him with little regards to his demeanor, eyes wide still--now more coloured like forget-me-nots, an almost like the sun was just rising through the horizon colour that had Ardyn stop for a moment. His grimy skin hid nothing, parts of the small boys fingers were covered in broken skin--the frozen water sticking to it probably was the only reason he had any skin on them--and purpling at the tips. He was dying--of that the once king could see. The skin around this tiny little creatures eyes were red--bordering on purple and blue--and he shivered exposed to the elements in nothing but flimsy paper-like material. Still, there was this look in the boys eyes, curious, unafraid. Like he could see something to Ardyn that wasn't all nightmares or perfected fake charm.  

 

He watched as the boy watched him, before turning around, soundlessly beginning his trek towards the luxurious room at an inn that had been generously provided to him by the Empires' starving and overtaxed people. His shoes crunched along the snow, and it would have covered the wet squelch of tiny bare feet, if the steps behind him hadn't been two at a times, with a stumble in between at times, and soft not-words being spoken to him.

 

"Bo-Chocobos... y-yeow, a-a wam." the voice was soft, delicate, and brittle in a way, that caused a small tug of something Ardyn couldn't quite name. Still he ignored the youngling that followed him, even as the black inky monsters in him cackled and spoke back to the unwanted pursuer. The boy seemed to be fine with the sounds--perhaps because he'd been bred in it, regardless of how much of a failure he'd turned out to be. Enough of a failure he'd been tossed out into the cold to die, at any rate.

 

"Wanna pway." murmured the boy with a giggle, slowly catching up to his new friend. Ardyn's pace neither sped up or slowed down, so the tiny defect had learned quick how to gain speed, watching the worn end of a long coat brush against the cold snow. It looked warm--he knew that word, it was a nice word. He knew cold too, it was what he was stepping on, and it wasn't very nice. But he didn't have what the big man had--the voices around him said "Clothes", and he didn't really know what that meant, but he wanted them too!

 

 

"Aw...Arr..." Ardyn ignored the boys sounds, stepping onto the wooden floor of the inn he was residing at, the sound of his boots clunking up the steps and into the lobby notifying no one--for at this hour there were no people out and about--soon a few nighttime creatures like goblins would sneak through the streets to scare the residents of Gralae, but not much else, the scourge had yet to amalgamate into something more sinister. It was still too soon.

 

As he removed his hat, and began to tap the tip of one booted foot, the auburn man noted a distinct lack of sound from behind him, and he chanced a quick glance over his shoulder, spotting the small creature that had deigned to follow him staring into the lobby of the inn, with his now blue eyes. It seemed the more light in an area, the less of his true nature showed. How delightful.

 

Still, Ardyn turned to look at the defect, watching as the boy shuffled on the snow, not stepping a foot on the platform of the inn, though his small hands were fisted in the flimsy material of the only thing he wore, as though that would make it turn into the warmth of the inside of the building. Perhaps he should be cruel and leave it out in the snow, he was certain the other had little time left, the way his skin was near deathly white, with blues and purple eating away at his edges.

 

' _Do not leave it out. Make it ours.'_ crooned out the inky miasma inside, already pulling gently on the scourge inside of the tiny being outside. There were many things that he disregarded when it came to the beast within--this one should have been one of those things. Yet instead, he obeyed on a whim, opening the glass doors, peering down at the human shaped thing.

 

"Come now, don't you know it's rude to keep me waiting?" he asked the thing, watching blue eyes light up, and as though he's broken down a wall, tiny feet clambered onto the wooden entryway, padding into the warmth of the inn and beginning to babble back to him.

 

"Ar--Aryn pway."

 

He merely allowed his lips to contort into a smile, inside cringing. The thing thought he wanted to 'play' and the beast inside cackled.

 

"Good try on saying my name darling, but it is "Ar-d-een" and you'd do well to remember as such." he explained, already moving towards the steps that lead to the upper floor, where an elevator rested to take him up towards the top floor of the 8 floored place. It wasn't as tall as other buildings, and he could have just stayed in the Palace, but he'd rather stay far from the overzealous and useless emperor as possible. So the inn it was!

 

He could hear the boy following him, feet smacking the floor gracelessly, mouth continuing to spout out attempts at his name. He climbed into the elevator, feeling as the young boy followed him in. Watching as round grubby and frost-bitten toes dug into the equally grimy carpet that they had decided would be a good idea in a musty square space. The floors crawled down slowly, leaving Ardyn to watch as his new pet tried to gracelessly hid in the tail of his coat. He allowed it to do what it wanted, after all--there could be use for it. Still, when the elevator finally reached his floor, the man couldn't help but be a bit more relieved, but it was quickly replaced with slight surprise at the unexpected--but thankfully muted--sounds of running. It seemed his young guest already knew the way--the scourge guiding him to what possibly could be considered a nest--if nightmares and dark miasma counted as such.

 

"Ard--in, Ard--iiiin" the boy hiccupped, not afraid, but excited to step into another warm place.

 

"Patience child" he explained, unlocking the door to his quarters, staring down at his new acquisition with dark amusement. "Is a virtue. Learn it, and I will reward you with a name."

 

To this, the boy looked at him more, awe and something else--something Ardyn couldn't name, no wouldn't name--swimming in those expressive eyes. Then to his secret pleasure, a smile spread along the gaunt face of the failed experiment.

 

"Otay Ard-iin. I wait." he said, even as he followed obediently after him, the door closing behind them and locking itself--the faint shape of glowing eyes following them.

 

"Good, you seem to adapt quick, and learn at a good pace child. You may stay here with me, and I will teach you how to be..." Ardyn could already feel his amusement grow more. Of course--this was what he needed. A pawn to further his goal. He would make this child a success yet.

 

"Human."


	2. Snow Drifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Imperial outlands were always quiet, 05953234 knew this from experience. After all, he had been a failed experiment cast outside of the First Magitek Production facility. But the silence that swallowed up his new objective sometimes unnerves him, but those silences were rare--and in the place of that void like silence--there comes the sounds of many things.

The days had passed easily enough, what had been--at least 05953234 assumes--meant to be a temporary reprieve from the near endless white that encapsulated Niflheim's heart, had slowly drifted into days like snow would drift into a pile. He had silently followed the man with many voices, learning from said faceless and nameless voices what was expected and what was not. Rarely did his new objective spare him any words, save for some random bits of dialogue he was yet too new to understand. Their conversations were one sides, with the little proto-MT trying to emulate whatever words he could spit out and pronounce correctly; and because of this, his once pitifully small and useless vocabulary had suddenly started to spring up, like flowers growing the first few days of spring.  
  
  
Spring; that sounded like a dream, in a place like this. In a continent where hunger and desperation rankled high in the air, the acrid scent of death clinging to every surface and the musty taste of tears and loneliness painted your mouth down all the way into your lungs and the silvery veins that ran along inside. But spring... that sounded wonderful. He'd caught the word in a tome of sorts, that had been resting on the small beat up coffee table of the room Ardyn was staying at, which held an impressive stack of big books, enough the flooded it's wooden surface in different towers of varying heights and spilled all the way to the ground. The one he'd grabbed had been one of the simpler ones--the young MT believes, it had been light enough for his tiny, slowly thawing hands with their sluggishly bloody wounds to grab. He'd sat down on the carpeted floor, enjoying the softness of it. To him, the coarse and threadbare material felt heavenly, Ardyn had, in a rare show of acknowledgement, explained to him that what most others took for granted, a starved man would take as a luxury.  
  
  
He'd listened to the man talk to him, for once the monsters a silent murmur beneath the velvety and smoky voice of his temporary holder. There was something soothing about him in the times when he spoke of things that humans did and didn't do--"Unlike you, little defective thing. Humans are much, much worse."--and he ate up the information with luminous eyes that seemed just as hungry as any of the unfortunate wild-life that were house in Niflheim. He had turned the aged pages of the tome with care as the man spoke; looking at the neatly printed words--the different names of birds he'd never heard of, nor could imagine existing;

 

Like a Zuu bird! Giant with a strange serrated beak, that laid 'eggs', little incubators for it's prodigies. Voretooths, Sabretusks, Cactuars--"Those my little one, are instinct, humans are such barbaric creatures!" intoned Ardyn as he reclined on the couch that sat beside the small MT--even things like "Chocobos" that he had learned about in the lab from one of the newer handlers of the MT. He'd over heard the man speaking of it, saying they were giant birds that the people of Lucis could still afford to ride. The way the book described them, they didn't seem smart, but they were affectionate and raised with the intent to be the mules of these "Lucian" people.

 

"Ah, Lucis. That is a continent that you will eventually meet, but don't think too highly of them. They are no better than the people here." spat out Ardyn, the voices raising up in a dizzying crest of screams, though 05953234 didn't react much to them, used to the errant nature of the 'starscourge'. That's what Ardyn called them, and that's what the young defect had inside of him as well, which was why he could hear them in the first place.  
  
  
  
"Such a shame you were a defect. Why, I believe you're the only one of those M.T.'s that can even react to my presence." with those words, Ardyn's ire had quickly dissipated, replaced instead by a silence that was thick, tangent, and very much alive. Those were the moments that he noticed the most. They were the times he could see something that maybe shouldn't be seen. Of course, what would a defective thing like him would know? He barely understood what anything was yet--though he had in mind to learn quick to be able to fully comprehend what things were being given to him. These small seeds of knowledge that came at the price of a very empty yet very powerfully felt silence. When they occurred, he could hear the sound of the snow-flake drifting down and piling into a mound, he could listen to the ice melting slowly and freezing up again. Could hear every cell of not-blood flowing in his veins, because the voices inside of him too, die down.  
  
  
It was in those moments, that 05953234 truly felt the terrifying sensation of death creeping up on him. His body was still cold; Ardyn had chanced a look over him and tutted in amusement saying that he was surprised a tiny body like his could still be alive. But no, he wouldn't give in to death, not when he came to feel even the slightest hint of warmth, or what 'clothes' were, and 'talkiing' and 'people' and just being with someone. He wanted to 'feel' more, to know more about these strange inner workings. He wanted to stay beside this man who held something inside of him--that something was not good, he knew that, felt it in the way his core seized when an influx of the scourge's murky tendrils entered his body--but it was something, rather than the emptiness the proto-MT had felt those weeks he'd slowly starved and froze out in the wastelands.  
  
  
  
He'd stumbled into Gralea with no hope, had peeked the soldiers and women that trudged in the snow-piled streets with their own despairs and worries--the weight of something none of them had asked for making shoulders slouch heavy--and had resigned to hiding in an ally where the wind wouldn't hit him so strongly, and though it stank worse than a dead body, it was the closest thing to keeping him from dying outright. So 05953234 had stood there, shivering and watching as people walked by, red eyes catching their attention at times, and other times they merely tossed whatever garbage they had into the narrow passageway and the M.T. would dig through and scavenge even the smallest crumb of a stale crust or bread, to even the saddest looking scrap of meat that happened to grace the road in the rare occasions, and lived off of those.

 

He'd been starving, barely passing any waste--for what could his body dispose of that wasn't already gone?--and had even resorted to eating the filthy snow from the ground of his alley to at least fill his stomach with something. The cold had stopped bothering him after a bit, the bloody tips of his fingers numbed perpetually and the blood sticking and freezing as he continued to eat the ice off the ground, his feet had long ago lost their feeling, he was certain he'd been missing a few of the nails, and his blood had been slowing, but he'd almost come to think he'd been 'warm'. Until Ardyn had come. Until the man had allowed him into a building, and given him shelter, and warmth and yes, his body hurt so much now as he slowly regained the sensation of his damaged limbs, the blood still too sluggish, meaning he was still in danger of dying.

 

But he had someone, Ardyn, no matter what the man said--had saved him, even if on a whim, and even if he'd merely "Let a little kitten in, my child."  
  
  
He knew these things now, and he knew want, and he knew that he may not have a right to such a thing, but that he could get it if he behaved well enough with this man. The voices inside of him whispered out to 05953234 and told him that if he just proved his use, that he would be able to stay by the man's side, and he would too. He'd shown the man he knew, at least, how to wrap his feet so that they didn't bleed on the carpets, and he knew how to wash his hands, even if the 'soap' block made his broken skin sting and the water was a little too cold. He even proved he knew how to clean himself right, though he had no other clothes save for the filthy robe he wore from the facility, so he just threw the ratty thing on himself whenever he'd finished wiping down his skin, which was gaining it's colour slowly.  
  
  
The older man seemed to have figured it out, because he looked straight at the failed thing he had collected, and his eyes--brown with flecks of red, and a dark filigree of pigment in areas that would flicker whenever they'd catch the light, and looed like fire--were tired, ancient beyond the years his body painted, but amused. There was another feeling there--but it was too deep within, for the small proto-MT to understand, so instead, he offered the man a child-like smile, looking back down at the tome and reading about the flora of Tenebrae, the sylleblossom--he knew of the region, there, it was spring perpetual because of old magicks, Ardyn told him that it was because there had been a crystal there--  
  
  
"The  **true** crystal of light, but it vanished mysteriously to another realm, one where it might prove more useful. So it is claimed by the witches." murmured Ardyn as he settled to close his eyes, his breathing slow, almost unnoticeable. Witches--he'd learn in another one of the various of the tomes--are those who wield magic outside of the royal families. But for now, the small child settled for gently and reverently placing the book he'd been looking into back in it's place and settled closer to the couch, his back pressing against the front of the lumpy thing, and stretched his feet out--the bandages would need to be replaced soon--and closed his eyes, feeling the push and pull of the black ocean between him and Ardyn, and the cacophony of voices that lulled him into sleep.  
  
  
  
He wouldn't disappoint. He would not be a failure. Not this time. 

 


	3. Sentiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gralea sadly, was the ideal place to live, and Ardyn could see it as the streets became crowded, and the buildings as well. Soon, the man thought, it would be time to move to a new location. He hoped to acquire some information beforehand though--Iedolas had "little time"� to talk to the Chancellor, and Verstael was the easier of them to converse with. He would need to solidify a subtle plan of attack in Tenebrae--the Nox Fleuret held much influence, and with their help and false hope, the chancellor would build up the illusion of salvation.
> 
> This one only had a tiny bit of Prompto, but the next chapter will be of him, his growth, and finally have him talking as well as the meeting betweem him and Verstael.

#  **Ephemeral Flowers**

 

The days are slow to pass, Ardyn notes in annoyance, since he had acquired his latest little pet.

The young child in question continued toddling around after him wherever he went, regardless of his own welfare; in fact, the child seemed to not have any other thought than to follow him, and while that proved to Ardyn that this tiny little mess actually knew exactly what was owed to him, it was ridiculous just how little it cared about its own physical form--a prod with the scourge proved to the man that this child had little regard for anything other than him. So much so, it almost went out to freeze again when the chancellor prepared to make his way towards Verstael's distant MT laboratory.

****

"Just what do you think you are doing?" he questioned, looking over his shoulder as once more the proto-MT wobbled towards across the lobby after his long strides, grimacing at the state of undress it was in. Perhaps new clothes were in order--after all, the tiny thing had done well enough to learn to behave.

****

"Wan-a go, you go me go too."  
  
His physical articulation had much to be desired, but the man knew just how smart the youngling was--his mind already forming words that no four year old anything should even recognize, his walking was coming along further as well, especially as his toes recover and regenerate themselves--surprisingly quick, he must note, and he wonders if it has anything to do with the young M.T.'s make--he'd be sure to ask about it to the doctor, after all, he was still genuine about his efforts to his people--hilarious as that thought is--and would probably allow the tiny defect to live on under Ardyn's wing. One tiny subject would make no difference.

****

"You are to stay in our rooms my dear kitten. Though your tiny little feet may hurt no more, you are not fit to be in the cold, nor are you fit to keep up with me."  
  
The man watched the young boys face screw up in displeasure, blue-eyes glowing faintly purple, and the scourge that rested inside of him began to vibrate in said negative state. Ardyn could already hear them--the voices screaming at him, telling him a million words he could not pick out with how many of them overlaid on one another--but he could easily pick out the young M.T.'s voice within it all.  
  
_I can handle the cold just fine. This is just a shell, I don't want you to leave._ ** _Stay with me please._**

****

He knew exactly what the little mistake feared, and his eyes glimmered and shivered into a violet colour as he stared down at his baggage. This thing would obey him before all else, and it wouldn't do to just give in to such baseless fears. The massive darkness within him roiled over the small child, his own daemons crying out and swelling violently, drowning everything around them and muffling all sounds.

****

In this darkness, there was only them, and the forgotten creatures that festered with hatred and loneliness and despair. In this space and realm, there was only Ardyn, there is only his will, and there is only the darkness. Yet even as the scourge crashed into 05953234's own with the force of a typhoon and the screaming voices got louder, the boy's eyes never wavered, and even with the inky blackness that bubbled and oozed around them, his skin remained unmarred--almost glowed ethereally. 

****

_ You're the only one who sees me. There is only you. _

****

The soft voice spoke, and he could hear it so clearly--there was nothing that could warp that voice--hide it, make it disappear, and the man found he couldn' t bring himself to twist the shadows and call a daemon to destroy the M.T.; no, instead he felt the beast begin to settle, as the world around them came back into focus and their eyes returned to their normal colours.

****

Ardyn was the first to bow out--he knew a battle hardwon when he saw it--and instead let out a deep breath.   
  
" My dear boy, there is no need for you to be so insistent. I shall take you with me, but you will not like where we are going. Or perhaps you might--see, this might be a family reunion of sorts for you, for you see, I will be going to where you were crafted." he says with poignant smile, watching the tiny boys body shiver violently for a moment.

****

05953234 seemed to reconsider his earlier choice--and the man felt his lips quirk into a smirk that he quickly hid when the child shook his head and began to clumsily move back.   
  
" No go. No go yet. No wana." he murmured--and such a bitter voice for a child! Ardyn felt his amusement and triumph grow, before mockingly tipping his hat to the child, coaxing out a sweet coo for it.

****

"I suppose then, that you will be a good little child and wait for me in our rooms yes? There isn't much in the form of food, naught but a few crackers and sandwiches, and some water, but I am certain that will help you tide over until I return." he turns without looking at the child--doesn't bother offering a key or guiding it back to the rooms, after all it knew exactly where they rested and how to open the door without a key--and steps out into the streets of the every gray and filthy Gralean streets.

****

"My. my. Feels like another day in my favourite place."� he murmured, trudging through the snowy streets, his amusement growing more as he caught sight of the people who also made their rounds in the streets, cold, bitter, and hopeless. He can feel their despair growing, sees it in the women's eyes as they struggle to find a cheap meal for their families, little girls in filthy jackets with even filthier dolls, boys playing with sticks and rocks and busted toy cars, and the men that limp from a war that was uselessly fought before, and still battled for now.

****

Yes, he could see it all in the people--their hopelessness was becoming restless, and the Empire was doing all it could with little blessings from the  _ Astrals _ they begged for salvation from. How he loved watching these people--who were abandoned as he was--struggling to get by. Even now he heard the bitter whispers of strangers.   
  


_ I have a sister in Tenebrae; it's so beautiful there, the sun is warm and the weather is quaint. They even have fresh fruits! Tenebraen oak to season your food, and ulwaat berries that are so flavourful and wonderful in desserts! _

****

_ I went to Atlissa once in Accordo, and there's never a cloud in their skies; the people are dressed so colourful, you can wear the fanciest outfits-- _

****

_ They have the Arena Galliano where you can see the wildlife from across all the continents fight one another, and you can even win prizes-- _

****

With each whisper came devastation and longing. There were old villages, outside of Gralea's cold grips in the mountains that were of gentler climates--but they also suffered attacks from the daemons that were beginning to crop up more--too poor to afford any protection from the attacks, and then there was the desert that offered little in the form of comfort with barely any water to quench the thirst of its inhabitants.

****

Gralea sadly, was the ideal place to live, and Ardyn could see it as the streets became crowded, and the buildings as well. Soon, the man thought, it would be time to move to a new location. He hoped to acquire some information beforehand though--Iedolas had "little time"� to talk to the Chancellor, and Verstael was the easier of them to converse with. He would need to solidify a subtle plan of attack in Tenebrae--the Nox Fleuret held much influence, and with their help and false hope, the chancellor would build up the illusion of salvation.

****

_ It would be most lovely, I dare say, to jar the people of Niflheim so. _

****

With the destruction of that salvation, he'd be able to further drive the Empire into his palms, and with it. have enough of an army to begin moving into Lucis. After all, the man of no consequences had a feeling he'd be needing to focus on opulent and vain Kingdom that rested within. For now, he needed only to bid his time and get his pawns into place. With that thought in place, Ardyn vanished into the crowd of people, preparing himself for the ordeal that was to come.


	4. The Cresting Sounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The call was of a phoenix, he’d later learn, as Ardyn explains to him the different elixirs, potions, and trinkets that were used by the people of Eos, and he would think to himself, that perhaps Ardyn was made of the downs of a phoenix, for he was the reason Prompto lived now.
> 
>  
> 
> Our tiny M.T. finally gets a name! There's not much in this chapter as far as development goes, it's just literally about him wanting and getting a name.

#  **Ephemeral Flowers  
  
  
**

  
Time had crept by slowly around them, like the snow that never seemed to stop piling up around Gralea, and with the passage of time game the growth of the young M.T. defect, who once toddled unsurely on infected feet--that now walked with shoes and warm clothes, and little hesitance. A year had passed since Ardyn had taken him in, and 05953234 had  grown a bit, enough to reach mid-thigh of the man, and that made him happy. After all, he could prove to Ardyn that he was worth keeping around.    
  
  
Just because a year had passed, did not mean the man intended to keep him after all; the young defect wasn’t delusional. He had been kept because of his ability to gather information without having any adult discern him as the “Chancellors” pet. Ardyn had discovered before that leaving 05953234 alone in Gralea’s M,T, base had alloted the young one to absorb random bits of information via the scourge.   
  
  
How the progress of the daemonication of their soldiers was backfiring, and costing lives, the numbers of the casualties, the desperation, the need for more information, the lack of stability in the experiments. It had been a pleasant shock to the man when their darker essences had met between them in a slowly familiar dance of oozing slickness--the sounds of screams and sheer horror ringing loudly in both their ears. Still, 05953234 remained absolute in the darkness, translucently pale skin that was starting to dot alone in strange places with what Ardyn assumed would become “freckles”.

  
The man had let out an unusual bark of a laugh, and then reached to pet at the young M.T.’s fine blonde hair, making his blue eyes widen in curiousity at the foreign touch, the warm the other released contradicting the usual form he presented himself as. It made the small child delight a little, and his scourge swelled and coiled tight like a small bird would flutter. He had done something correct it seemed.

  
“My, my, it seems you’ve proven yet again more useful than they’d assumed in that damnable base that had discarded you.” answered Ardyn, pulling his hand away to wipe it against his coat. 05953234 didn’t mind, he knew he was clean--Ardyn had showed him what a ‘bathroom’ was and how to use it, so he’d since learned to clean himself to keep up with his keepers standard.

  
“Did good?” he asked, waiting for the confirmation of the older before offering the man a bright smile, his radiantly forget-me-not blue eyes catching the light and twinkling mirthfully. The older man seemed at a loss for a moment, and that made 05953234 nervous--had he made a mistake? But it was soon dismissed as one of Ardyn’s whimsical moods, because he was soon back to moving around the room of their home--or as much of a home as the place could be called.

  
“It seems like I should reward you pet, for doing such a good job. Perhaps I should give you a name at last?”    
  
  
The idea that he was finally going to be awarded a name was enough to make the M.T. vibrate, the scourge inside of him rising up in waves and the shrieks of the monster inside of him rising in pitch. A name would mean he had meaning and purpose. It would mean that Ardyn intended to keep him--that he was useful enough to be thought of by a name. He watched the man, barely moving a muscle or saying a word--there was no need when their connection ran far deeper than anything humans would understand--and he had recently learned what “humans” were, and that Ardyn and he did not fall under that category. Ardyn was something beyond, and 05953234 was a “Magitek” failure.   
  
  
But not so much of a failure, that he couldn’t have some use. So a name would mean that it was a permanent title, and it would mean he could still be warm, and eat meals, and learn what words meant and what was acceptable and what was not. He continued waiting for the older man to tell him, to name him. Give him meaning and a presence in this world where a name was what set you apart from nothing--even machinery had a name if it was useful. So if he had one, then he would be useful too.   
  
  
“I won’t be able to think if you cannot maintain silence.”   
  
  
It was said in jest, yet the stillness and silence that overtook the small creature had Ardyn pausing and watching him. 05953234 kept watching him in return, waiting without even letting out a single breath.   
  


  
“Hmm, that was rather quick of you.” The older man seemed to have liked something about that sentence, because he was already pondering what he was going to label him as, and 05953234 couldn’t wait to know--their connection quiet from the older man’s side, so he couldn’t even pry--and he was going to go mad with the want that he held in his small breast for that name. Whatever the name would be, he just wanted it like nothing he’d ever wanted in his short pathetic existence, so the wait was almost suffocating.   
  
  
It felt worse than the hunger and the cold that had been slowly killing him before the man had taken him in. Yet he waited, tiny feet shifting, little hands gripping at the hem of his thick jacket in anticipation. He hadn’t known these feelings before--but with Ardyn, it was almost a constant and it felt like a blessing--a word he’d also learned from the other, but it hadn’t been a happy lesson.   
  
  
  
After an hour at last, it seemed the man had come up with something, before he was looking at 05953234 with a face that clearly said he felt content and mirthful in his own way--it was usually associated with negative things for others, but he cared little for others, who had left him to die and rot in the cold. This man before him was everything, his world, his home, his existence.

  
  
“I believe little one, that I’ve a name that is most flattering. Would you like to hear it?”

 

The man had even crouched down so they could be at eye-level, and the young defect nodded, there was nothing more than he would want than to hear what the man had decided to call him besides a defect, a pet, or something of the variation of a nameless thing. He wanted to exist, to have meaning, and be useful. He  _ wanted _ and that was all that the little creature knew. He wanted this and all it’s weight and suffering and agony, all the hatred, and the love, and everything in the world that this could mean, so he waited until the older man said the word. His name.   


  
  
The cresting sound that rang within his very new, and very real soul probably reached far beyond the veil of the living and the damned---he could swear it probably reached the “astrals” themselves--those hated creatures that Ardyn spat about and said sat on their thrones with little care for those who needed of them. It felt like the call of something--all he knew was he was finally real.   
  


 

“Prompto.”

 

 

*The call was of a phoenix, he’d later learn, as Ardyn explains to him the different elixirs, potions, and trinkets that were used by the people of Eos, and he would think to himself, that perhaps Ardyn was made of the downs of a phoenix, for he was the reason Prompto lived now.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've written Ardyn so if he's out of character, I'm so sorry. I'm also sorry that I called Prompto an it and that he's cold and hungry and sad. I've decided to just keep it almost instinctual between them with a bit of human relationship building. I'm happy that everyone is reading the fic! Thank you so much!


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